The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1887-12-31
The Strike End, Itself.

Under the above caption the Phlladel-
,hia Times Of Wednerday, says; "The in
syitable end must have been known TO the
eaders early in the evening, as the issue
was practically settled against the striking
Knights when the Reading city Knights
refused to join in or approve the strike,
which action was understood to be in accord
with the views of the highest authority of
the organization. Thenceforth It was sim
ply an effort on the part Of those who SO
madly precipitated the strike, to rescue
themselves as far as possible from their
own worse than foolish blunder, and they
finally confessed the failure Of the strike
and attempted to break their own fall bv
the announcement that the striking Knights
would resume work pending arbitration.
In point of fact, the strike ended itself be-
cause there was nothing to arbitIate
"The strike was one Of that class of
blunders which are worse than crime. 1t
insansly attempted TO plunge into enforced
idleness some fifty or sixty thousand work
ingmen without the pretence of complaint
about the character or time of employment,
the wages of labor or the method of pay
ment; and the order was given in midwin-
ter Just when workingmen, the railway and
the public had the greatest interest in the
uninterrupted operations Of the railway
And upon what pretext was this strike
ordered? There was no complaint that un-
due exactions were put upon labor; nc com
plaint that the wages were inadequate; no
complaint Of DELAY or uncertainty in pay
ment; no complaint that the railway cor
poration had raised any issue with its en-
ployes. There was no shadow of wrong
against any of the employees of the corpora
tion who performed their duties and aided
it to fulfill its imperative obligations as a
common carrier All this attempted wrong
against scores of thousands of workingmen
against the dignity and trustworthiness Of
the order Of the knights of Labor and
against the public generally, was based or
controlled by the Reading corporation but
happening to handle an inconsiderablt
fraction of the Reading freights, chose tC
employ dozen or so of laborers not mem
bers of the order, rates mutually satisfactory
TO employer and employed. On this utterl!
senseless pretext, engineers and trainmer
refused to move engines and freights, anC
they were promptly and properly dismissed
from the employ of the common carrier
that was bound by the law TO deliver al
freight committed to its care.
"Such strike could meet with but on
answer from the employing corporation
that there was no dispute to adjust,no issu
to arbitrate, and that answer was given
Unless the managers of the Reading line
were perfdious to their high trust, ther
could be no other answer than that tn
dismissed men can meyer be re-employed Of
the line, and that there can be no assur
ances of the prompt and safe administrator
of the railroad while its employees are sub
ject to such arbitrary and suicidal order
from any organization. The .question a
raised by the strikers involved the rights @
Individual laborers and employers wbic
must ever stand unquestioned in thi
country while it shall continue as a countr
of law and order. No organization of an
kind can live under our free institution:
where the rights of the humblest are a
sacred before the law as the rights of tn
most opulent, while it assumes 10 deny
any the right to labor where, with whol
and at what wages he or she shall choos
, to accept, and the right to employ or not
employ at will, hasits warrant in the S,
preme law of the land. Against such righ
the Knights Of Labor are and ever will |
utterly impotent, and persistence in revolt
tionary opposition to them must mean sci
destruction.
| "The Reading strike is settled because
settled itself, but how are the Knights
: Labor to answer to the world of labor an
to the business that furnishes labor the be
: rewards of any country of the earth, fl
e this unmingled follyp There will surely
r stern accountability for such Grimm
error, and the demand for accoun abili
will not be confined to the employers OF j
Dor. The workingmen who have dependt
upon their labor organization for wise d
rection will cease all trust in their leade
ship, and consider how costly it is to mai
tam an arbitrary power that thus multipli
the perils of labor and brings it into ju
10 Jk mil do 20 -
employers upon guard against any undl
control of their business affairs by ell
d ployes, but 1t will do much more to p
q labor upon guard against confiding its i
terests to incompetent or inconsidera
: authority. 1t will limit the number al
e the scope of the walking delegates al
: abridge the power of those who assume Il
Il despotic control of both capital and labc
' 1t will lessen sympathy for Knights of Lab
and it will fall heavily upon the strikil
: miners of the Lehigh region, for it vint
u Gates the operators in their refusal to tire
!, with any but their own employees in th'
u own rames and for their own benet
These are some of the bitter lessons OF t
:, insane Reading strike and if the Knights
Labor would escape just consure and il
forfeiture of public respect, they will de
4 heroically with the question and, once I
:, all, end strikes except when clearly pl
a yoked by inadequate wages and failure
all other methods, and efface the an
American boycott entirely from the list
labor remedies"
A HAPPY New YEAR is THE WISH
the ADVOCATE to rich and poor, high a